We will humblefully take a 2 goal difference defeat where you start to relax after the 3th goal and we score a late consolation goal. Winning in the Bernabeu is obviously a no-go for any team, let alone the thrid best team in La Liga. If Bale does not score a hattrick and Di Maria doesn't dominate the midfield too much and Messi doesn't pick up an injury I think I can live with that overall.

I don't know what line up Tata will play if Pedro will start in place of Nerman and if Cesc might start in midfield. It depends I guess but Barca are not the same as before I don't care about the Osasuna win, quite frankly nearly all teams in LaLiga are easy when you play at home.

Benz is doubtful so I think Jese will start. interesting as he will be a nightmare for Barcas CBs with his speed and runs. Messi still scares me though I don't know why, he loses the ball often but he is capable of creating magic out of nothing. This is the kind of game Bale has to prove himself in. Rest him against Schalke I don't care but he has to turn up in this game no excuses.

In fact play a bloody b team against Schalke they have to score 5 goals or more to go through, impossible eh??

Also I swear if Carlo instructs us to go for a draw he can leave with the barca team to wherever he wants to go. he can absolutely not be that gutless at home no less, we are not Atleti we go for wins all the time. I still have nightmares about the away game where he made us defend for a whole half but still went to ht being a goal down

Barca need to win, so I can't see Fabregas starting. Against Man City he played so they could retain possession, however here they will need to counter at times. I'd say it'll be the usual Messi/Neymar and one of Pedro/Sanchez.

Barca need to win, so I can't see Fabregas starting. Against Man City he played so they could retain possession, however here they will need to counter at times. I'd say it'll be the usual Messi/Neymar and one of Pedro/Sanchez.

BTW, do you really think all this reverse jinxing above is still funny? *sighs*

People start to get annoyed and report posts here, so I would like to advise you to stop with that as I'm neither a Madrid nor Barca fan and thus *I* get annoyed when I have to police stupid stuff like that and you really don't want to see me annoyed. In other words - you have been warned nicely and further troll stuff like that gets punished.

@FalcaoPunch wrote:It all depends on what lineup Ancelotti decides to come or with.

If he changes it and does something stupid like last time, then we're screwed.

yepp. No more experimenting in big games please. I can understand the first clasico because nothing was working for us then but we have put a consistent team out there since December he can absolutely not tinker with the line up now.

ah, yes, this game is important to us for so many reasons; not just in terms of the league, but it can also be a confidence booster for europe as well. Testing our strength against barcelona, a top tier team lets me know exactly what progress we've made so far, and keeps us prepared for europe where we will meet stellar opposition that are dangerous with the ball as well as in the attack....should be a good game and i hope for a win, a dominant win....and NO disappearing acts on our team. Hala Madrid

The 2nd best thing that we have is set pieces. Seriously. Barcelona try to man mark on set pieces and it goes absoluetly horribly. Even more, benzema has added headers to his game, and is a genuine threat in the air. CR, pepe, and ramos are scary threats in the air, as well as varane if he plays. Bale is also an OK threat in the air. Di maria sends a very good set piece in usually, and so does alonso and bale. We better be practicing these in training because there's literally a 25% chance we score from these when we play them. CR and bale don't even have to beat their man half the time. Just kicking it off the defender for a corner is a giant threat in itself for them.

3rd, again we have benzema. In the last clasico he was very threatening with his playmaking and outstanding close control. No one on the team has the ability he has to create in the final third. not modric, and di maria is way too inconsistant of a passer in that part of the field.

I'm only worried about neymar. Last time we completely nullified messi by giving him no passing options on the wing and double marking him. but we let neymar free and he completely raped carvajal numerous times.

Anyway I think both teams have reasons to feel like they can win this game but the main question imo will be do Barca care about winning the game more than not losing?

No one at Madrid will like it but a draw would not be a disaster since it keeps the gap at 4 points. It give Atleti the chance to catch up but we'll be still ahead by a hair and will be in control of our own destiny.

For Barca a loss basically means game over, 7 points at this stage of the season is too big a gap since there aren't *that* many points left to play for.

This could potentially be a huge statement game for a lot of Madrid players. A lot of the guys on our squad have question marks surrounding them and I'm pretty sure they are aware of all of them.

I think regardless of whether we play like Lions or Gazelles if we show in intensity and impose ourselves we'll have a big chance. We'll also have a fully pumped up Bernabeu for this game which imo will be a factor.

My only concern is Mallenco, that clown could potentially influence the game. I'm almost 100% sure he's going to lose control at some point.

Bale/Carvajal should absolutely rape Alba/Neymar. We MUST focus our attack on that side... i know it means that CR7 will need to make backdoor movement. Tough shat. It's too big of a mismatch to ignore. It also forces Neymar to spend energy helping Alba.

@sportsczy wrote:Bale/Carvajal should absolutely rape Alba/Neymar. We MUST focus our attack on that side... i know it means that CR7 will need to make backdoor movement. Tough shat. It's too big of a mismatch to ignore. It also forces Neymar to spend energy helping Alba.

Fully agree but we'll have to have a good chunk of the ball to really exploit it imo.I think we can do it.

Regarding CR, I actually think he's at his best when he makes off ball runs into the box. When the ball (and the defence's focus) is somewhere else Cristiano is an absolute nightmare to defend against.

So yeah I'd actually prefer if Ronaldo had less touches outside the penalty area for this game. I'd actually prefer him being the one to pounce when it's time complete the attacking move.